Searching for JFK in Berlin

U.S. President John F. Kennedy, left, waves to a crowd of more than 300,000 gathered to hear his speech where he declared "Ich bin ein Berliner," ("I am a Berliner,") in the main square in front of the West Berlin city hall.AP

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I wanted to see where President John F. Kennedy delivered his “Ich bin ein Berliner” speech on June 26, 1963.

Kennedy delivered the speech in English, but finished by telling West Berliners that the world was one with them in their own language.

“All free men, wherever they may live, are citizens of Berlin. And, therefore, as a free man, I take pride in the words, ‘Ich bin ein Berliner.'“

He spoke before a swarm of humanity that seemed to be of near biblical proportions. I was 13 at the time and watching the conclusion of the speech on a grainy black-and-white TV. But I remember thinking that as the camera panned across the cheering multitude, it was the best possible time to be an American. Not since have I heard an American president cheered like that, even in the United States.

Berlin at the time was a divided city in the midst of Soviet-controlled East Germany. It was already a flashpoint when the Wall went up in 1961. People were shot trying to get over or through the wall. The Wall came down in 1989 and within a few years, Berlin and the two Germanys were reunited. The city has been remade and its center shifted to the east

But I still wanted to visit this place, to see if I could hear the echoes of that day.

When I finally made it to Berlin, I had trouble finding the spot at first. It wasn't highlighted in my guidebooks. Some of the Germans I initially quizzed recalled the event but were puzzled as to the location. Finally, a hotel clerk said a friend would know. He called him. Then he beckoned for my Berlin map and made an X at what was the old West Berlin city hall, the Rathaus Schöneberg.

My traveling companions opted for other Berlin attractions. So I set off on my own for the old West Berlin City Hall. It was about six stops away on the Berlin subway, easy to find because the names of all the stations are easily visible on the walls as the trains pull into the stations. And this being Germany, the trains run on time. My German is rudimentary at best, but with a mix of languages, some locals helped me pay the 2 euro fare.

About 15 minutes later, I was at my stop – Einselfahrausweis – and about an eight-block walk away from my destination.

Darkness was beginning to descend by the time I reached the plaza – but neighboring buildings were closer than I remembered them from the TV image decades earlier.

Was I in the right place?

Only one person was there, an older woman in business attire briskly walking diagonally across the plaza, which now is about the size of a baseball infield. I said “hallo” (hello), “bitte” (please) and “Kennedy” before she said, in English, “You are here.”

My instant guide pointed to the street sign I had missed – “John F. Kennedy Platz” (“plaza” in German). It had been renamed after Kennedy's assassination. There was a gold, medallion-like portrait of JFK on the lower right of the building. Below JFK's image is this inscription:

“That this world under God shall have a new birth of freedom.”

Given to the steadfast citizens of Berlin from their friends, the American people.

With reunification, Berlin had to figure out what to do with its duplicate orchestras, symphony halls, operas, art museums – even city halls. It was decided the seat of municipal government should return to the famous Rotes Rathaus, “the red city hall” called such not for its former communist affiliation, but for the color of the brick that makes up the towering building in former East Berlin. The West Berlin city hall reverted to its previous role as the borough hall for the Schöneberg district. It has hosted historical and art exhibits.

In the twilight, it was hard to imagine the vast empty space outside of the city hall had once swelled with so many people they could not move. Estimates of the crowd that day in Berlin for Kennedy's speech have ranged into the hundreds of thousands. The German National Tourist Office in New York says 120,000 were in the plaza that day. The woman I met in the plaza that day said she was about 10 then, but she remembered that “everyone in the city” seemed to have made their way as close as they could get to the plaza.

It's likely my imagination was working overtime that day, but I swear I could sense the ghosts of that day in the plaza.

Now if only I could hear an American president cheered like that again.

U.S. President John F. Kennedy, left, waves to a crowd of more than 300,000 gathered to hear his speech where he declared "Ich bin ein Berliner," ("I am a Berliner,") in the main square in front of the West Berlin city hall. AP
Kennedy's speech in West Berlin was to assure its citizens that the U.S. and its allies stood behind them even with the threat of nuclear war with Russia, who wanted the West out of West Berlin. The Soviets showed off their nuclear hardware at Red Square on May Day, May 1, 1963. AP
President John F. Kennedy, far right, in Massachusetts in the summer of 1963, soon after returning from his Berlin speech. He is with his brothers, U.S. Attorney General Robert F. Kennedy (far left), Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy (left). CECIL STOUGHTON, ASSOCIATED PRESS

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